Giving Thanks

This holiday break, I am at home with my family. Tonight, I spent some time talking with my dad. For my Honors 199 class, we were asked to interview someone we know who is at least 15 years older than us. So I had a conversation with my dad about his childhood. We talked about everything from television to music, and fashion to technology. I love hearing stories from when my dad was a boy. He told me about his cowboys and Indians fort (which I’ve actually played with myself) and his 3-inch afro from his trip to Europe. Entertaining, believe me.

It’s been a wonderful Thanksgiving. And it all began with Fruesday…well, maybe I should explain. The Tuesday before Thanksgiving Break has been dubbed “Fruesday” by Ball State University. It is a day on which we have Friday classes on Tuesday, hence Fruesday. The whole idea is to make up for all the Monday holidays we have off, thus missing out on class time those days. I’m not sure how effective it is, but hey, at least it makes us unique!

It’s hard to believe there are only two more weeks of classes and a week of finals before the semester is over. It seems like not so long ago I was just moving in. But I’m thankful to have made it this far!

I’ve had a wonderful Thanksgiving at home with my family. These days, my list of things to be thankful for is growing ever longer – and I’m grateful even for that!

Happy Thanksgiving!


(Psst! Click on the picture to learn about another unique part of Ball State!)

Dance Auditions

Last year, when I applied to Ball State, I hadn’t really decided about minoring in dance. By the time I did decide, it was too late to audition. The Department of Theatre and Dance audition days are in November and February. So, I just had to wait until November of this year to audition. This past Saturday was the first round of auditions for Fall 2011 (or Spring for current students). There were students auditioning for dance majors and minors, musical theatre, and acting.

The (early) morning began with a performance by the cast of Company, a musical production currently being put on at University Theatre, and a performance by the cast of The Nutcracker ballet being performed in December. The students were great and seeing them got us excited to get started.

The dance and musical theatre students stayed in the studio for the dance portion. We began with a jazz combination, then tap (which was optional), and finally ballet barre work. As the musical theatre students left, the dance students continued with ballet at the barre and floor work. All that was left was a modern combination and we were finished! It was a whirlwind morning, but so exciting.

I loved the feeling of dancing those styles in a class setting again. It’s been awhile! For dance minors, the audition is more about class placement than anything. They look at where you are and determine in which level you belong. I’m not sure if I will be taking any dance classes next semester, mainly because course request is now over, so most classes will be full, and I already have a full load. There is always an Add/Drop period when you can change your schedule up until the first week of classes though. So who knows?

As always, feel free to leave comments! I love hearing thoughts and suggestions for my blog. Also, if you have questions about campus life, please ask! If I don’t have an answer, I can direct you to someone who does.

Freshman Parking

Having a car on campus as a freshman is quite an experience…

Basically, the way it works is all freshman cars must be parked at the football stadium lot, which is a good distance from the main campus. Then the night before every home football game, ALL the cars there must be moved to an alternate location.

Every time there’s a game, the buses to the stadium are jam-packed with students going to move their cars. There was a game this past Saturday, actually. And on Friday, it snowed. Right as we were going to move our cars. So we waited through several full buses in the snow and cold. I love winter…ha.

The good part about moving our cars is we can park anywhere on campus (after 5 p.m. Friday) for the weekend. This comes in handy when you want to go somewhere on the weekends and your car just happens to be in the parking garage near your dorm. It works out nicely.

But then you have to move it back by Sunday night, or you get a ticket. I think it’s like by 3:30 a.m. on Monday morning actually. I have yet to have a run-in with Parking Services, but I’m sure it will happen and I’m sure you will hear about it.

My advice: bring your car if you want to be able to go places, but be prepared for the hassle of moving it for football games.

It's A Classic

Last weekend, I competed at my first ballroom competition! When I came to Ball State, I joined the Ballroom Dance League to learn some new styles of dance. The very first lesson was in Rumba, and we’ve been learning Cha Cha the past few weeks.

I loved it so much I decided to compete at the Purdue Classic last weekend. My partner, Chase, and I competed in Newcomer American Rumba, which is the entry-level amateur division. There were over 90 couples in our division. Talk about competition! I don’t know about Chase, but I had some nerves. Even after all the dancing I’ve done in my life, this was a whole new world. All that mattered, though, was showing what we knew and having fun while doing it.

Chase and I made it to the second round! After we had so much fun the first time, I was glad to get to dance again. It was just as fun the second time, but that was as far as we got.

The competition itself was so much fun, and I especially enjoyed watching the Gold and Silver levels compete (those are the highest divisions). Maybe someday! I definitely want to compete again and try more styles this time.

Here’s a video of our first round for you. I’m in the purple top. Thanks to Laci for videotaping it!